Unknown
by Virtual-unReality
Summary: Rika and Ryoma went to the same American Primary School, when he leaves suddenly, Rika is devastated. But now, years later, he returns...what will happen? Read on to find out! COMPLETE
1. Prologue: Cinderella and the driver

**A/N: I read back my story online.. and forgot that I didn't type the first part... sorry!**

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_Once upon a time, a girl was going to the ball, to face her dream. But the pumpkin carriage she was riding in was left stranded on the side of the road as the driver left without a proper reason or goodbye halfway through the journey. Without a driver, the very person she had trusted, she abandoned all thoughts to go to the ball…._

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Before, he was just the popular tennis player. But after winning against Harrison Sawyers at the internationals, he became_ the _popular guy.

Before, his name was plastered on every sport related magazines and newspapers, and his name was mentioned only once on the six o'clock news.

But now?

He is everywhere. His name shouting out of A1 sized posters stuck on the walls of every gymnasium, the tennis prodigy's face staring at everyone as they passed his picture everyday on the notice board, even on the back of the doors in the girl's toilets where fans write statements about him with permanent markers. If someone was paid a cent for every time his name came out of someone's mouth, they'll be ten times richer than Bill Gates.

Who is he? Ryoma Echizen, that's who.


	2. The arrival: The driver is back

A/N: The first chapter! Enjoy

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**Chapter one**

Rika walked through the crowded hallway, trying to ignore the girls' spiteful comments about her. Life was tough at school already, and now it was even worse, mainly due to the fact that her friend had 'accidentally' told everyone in her class that Rika was Ryoma Echizen's personal translator in primary.

"See that ugly girl there? I heard she was Ryoma Echizen's girlfriend!"

"What?! That nerd? Oh my gosh, really? Man, I thought he had better taste than _that_!"

"Stupid girl, bet she she's just pretending to be all goody-goody…"

Whispers floated around her as she forced back tears. It really wasn't what they had thought. She really was just his translator, well, maybe a bit more than that. Other people thought they were "friendly strangers" or even "friends". She and Ryoma were more than strangers, but they weren't friends… they were people who coincidently were in the same class and went to the same club. Yes, that's what they were: more-than-strangers-less-than-friends-that-happen-to-be-in-the-same-club-people. (That's one long name)

Rika reached her classroom just in time, wincing from the loud bell that unfortunately was right above her and had caused her to be momentarily deaf. She grabbed the doorknob and twisted it, opening the door.

"GOOD MORNING MISS YAKUL!" Mr. Hines, Rika's science teacher, boomed into her view. As always, his annoying smiling face popped up at the worst of times.

Rika brushed past him, "it's Yuuki," she corrected him.

The teacher waved a hand, "I won't penalize you this time for being late, Miss Yakul, because guess what?" Mr. Hines paused dramatically for effect. When no one answered him, he closed the door with a bang and strode to the front of the class.

"RIGHT! GET OUT YOUR PENCILS! WE ARE HAVING A POP QUIZ!" He shouted. At once, the noisy class stopped their talking and sat in a silence.

The teacher extended his smile and leaned forward. "I was just jokin', jokes, jokes, yolk, geddit?" But everybody had already stopped paying attention to him, Mr. Hines's jokes were always lame and never made any sense.

"Guys, girl, dudes, whatever, listen to me…. THERE'S A NEW PERSON COMING INTO OUR CLASS TODAY! ISN'T THAT JUST…." But no matter how energetic he sounded, or how loud he called, no one seemed to respond.

Rika made her way to the back row, Science was the only subject she never tried in, mainly because the teacher was a real airhead.

The door to the room slid open, and in stepped a person. Rika, with her nose in her English book, noticed the sudden sharp intake of breath from the girl beside her.

Rika twirled her pen clockwise._ Right, it's either the person who just came in is either:_

_a) A total hottie,_

_b) A very weird person like Mr. Hines_

_Or _

_c) Just a random teacher._

Her pen dropped onto the desk with a clatter, facing towards the window. _I'm guessing it's b)_ She thought with a grin. She picked up her pen and looked up.

Her brown eyes widened at shock at the new student.

That green hair… that arrogant way of walking… it couldn't be…

_Ryoma Echizen_?


	3. Cinderella ignores the driver

Thanks for reviewing!

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**Chapter two**

Mr. Hines tilted his head looking at the class from a weird angle. He loved looking at their reactions.

"Thanks for settling down! Today, on Eleven-fifteen-Science-News, we have, the famous, the best, the popular, Rie-oh-ma It-chi-zhen!!!" The teacher announced through an imaginary microphone.

The girls applauded, and the boys sat up with interest. Rika just slumped down further in her seat._ I hope he doesn't remember me…_ She wished, seeing as the last time they saw each other, she was not exactly sane.

Ignoring the teacher's mispronunciation of his name, Ryoma turned towards the class, an I'm-so-bored look etched across his face. Rika stifled a laugh.

_Oh my gosh, he hasn't grown an inch,_ she thought with a snigger. Those magazines were misleading, some had said he was 191 cm. The real life tennis prodigy seemed shorter than her, around 150 something cm.

Ryoma unknowingly had cast some sort of silence spell on the class. He just walked over to the only remaining desk in the room, beside a popular girl called Michelle. At once, she reeled back in shock, then after a few seconds, she regained her posture, and blinked at him with long eyelashes. Ryoma didn't see her.

"Rightie-o class, we need someone to be his buddy, would any-?" Mr. Hines question was cut short as everyone shot their hand into the air. Well, almost everyone, Rika had returned back to her English book, Ryoma was busy making himself comfortable so he could lean on the desk and fall asleep, and Michelle was still blinking at him.

Mr. Hines looked around. "Ah, Miss Yakkul, you'll do! Well, come on up!" He exclaimed.

Rika, who wasn't even paying attention, turned a page in her book.

"GOOD MORNING! HELLO? HELLO? WAKEY WAKEY!" Mr. Hines voice boomed out suddenly.

Rika didn't budge.

Ryoma just closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Michelle was staring at his sleeping face, thinking what a lucky girl she was.

The rest of the class was frantically waving their hands about to the depressed teacher.

Mr. Hines's shoulders slumped in defeat and picked a boy with blonde hair and purple contacts called Paul as Ryoma's buddy. Paul looked overjoyed even though his classmates looked ready to murder him.

Rika turned another page in her book.

Ryoma gave a slight snore.

Michelle looked at Ryoma, composing eight-seven different ways of asking him out.

Paul exchanged desks with Samantha, the girl behind Ryoma, and beside Rika.

Mr. Hines decided to drink coffee, and headed out the door with the instructions to "revise" during his absence.

The rest of the class proceeded to stare at Ryoma.

The bell signaling the end of class rang just as Mr. Hines opened the door with his cup of coffee.

Rika packed her bag and was about to leave when she noticed something strange.

Ryoma was halfway out the door, when he found his right foot jammed. He looked down and found Samantha tugging on his foot.

"Ah, Sorry. Just wanted to ask do you want to sit with Michelle and me at the Cafeteria? I-I mean, we normally don't have many people to sit with, so, so, so… Ryoma? Ryoma?"

Samantha had just realized that Ryoma was buried under thirty people, all wanting him to sit with them for lunch. Rika walked out the fire exit door without a backward glance, the front door seemed occupied to her.


	4. The driver hides in the girls bathroom

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! This chapter's a short(er) one. Hope you still like it!

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**Chapter three**

Ryoma managed to shake off the crazed classmates by sprinting towards the nearest toilets. He stood on the top of the toilet lid, holding his breath as the entrance to the room swung open. To his horror, he heard not masculine voices but….

"Did you hear about Rio ma? He's in Mr. Hines science class, poor him…" The first girl said, shutting the door to the cubicle beside him.

The door to the toilet on his other side banged shut too.

"I heard that nerd was in there, you know, that ugly one people said he used to date," The second girl informed her friend.

Ryoma did his best to muffle his choke. He listened carefully to what the other girl was going to say.

"What nerd? Oh, you mean,_ that_ girl, yeah, poor Ryoma. What was her name? Yakkul or something."

"No, no. It's Yuuki." The second girl corrected her.

Ryoma frowned, he didn't know a girl called Yuuki.

"Yuuki? Isn't that her last name?"

"Oh yeah, I meant Rika Yuuki."  
Ryoma was still frowning. _Rika? As in, Science? _He wondered. _Nope, don't know her._

The girls flushed the toilet and left the room. Letting out his breath, he unlocked the door and peered outside.

Coast clear. Time to escape.

He was two steps away from the entrance when the huge door swung open, hitting him across the face.

Rika hurried in, not noticing someone was beside her, clutching his nose.

Jeers and snide comments flitted in through the narrowing gap.

"Just because you knew him in primary doesn't make you pretty!" A high pitched voice shouted.

"Yeah, go away, you ugly girl! What did you do anyway? Blackmailed the teacher so you could be his translator?"

"Just go-"

The door banged shut.

Ryoma raised his eyebrows and thought about getting the tennis racquet from his bag, when he realized Rika was staring at him.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded.

"Nothing." He answered.

Rika grunted, and went into a cubicle, slamming the door.

"Well, hurry up and get out!" She ordered in a muffled voice.

Ryoma opened his mouth and quickly shut it. He had forgotten he was in the girl's toilet for that spilt second.

Striding out of the Room of Embarrassment, he headed towards where he thought the cafeteria was. A loud shout from behind him made him stop abruptly.

"Hey! Remember me? Your buddy?" Paul exclaimed, slapping him on his back.

Ryoma continued walking.

"You're good at tennis aren't you? Well, I'm not as good as you, but I do have two years of experience!" Paul informed him.

Ryoma rolled his eyes, Paul's personality seemed quite familiar to him.

"Yes, two years! I think I should try out for the tennis team, I mean, you did, didn't you? I mean, I _do_ have two- oi! I haven't finished!" Paul chased after Ryoma, who was in the far distance.

"The cafeteria's the opposite way!"


	5. The driver is on the rooftop

**Chapter Four**

Rika unwrapped her lunch, squatting on the toilet lid. It was not the ideal place to have a meal, but she knew those girls will be the cafeteria.

Biting into her tuna sandwich, she scowled and placed it pack into her lunchbox. She had been in a rush today to get to school and had used the stale bread she was supposed to throw out last week.

Sighing, Rika ignored her grumbling stomach and turned her thoughts to Ryoma Echizen.

_Why is he here?_ She wondered,_ and most of all, why was he in the girl's toilet? Had he became like his so-called-monk dad, a pervert? _Rika shook her head, and laughed at her stupidity. _Ryoma? The crazed tennis player who knew nothing but the words 'mada mada dane' and tennis? A pervert? Yeah right… But even so… why in the girl's toilet? _Nothing made sense to Rika and she decided to let it pass for the moment.

_It's such a relief he doesn't remember me_, she thought with a sigh,_ I mean, the last time I saw him, I had swung my racquet in his face and called him a loser…_

"_Hey! It's that twist serve again! Rika, watch out!" _

_Rika grinned, she had played Ryoma enough times to know where the ball will land, she sprinted towards the net just as the ball bounced on the ground. She hit it back to him, just centimeters away from his face. _

"_Mada mada dane," Ryoma commented, and hit the ball back. The ball hit the net and Rika watched as it bounced as it came falling down… back onto her side of the court. _

"_15- love" _

"_Grr… Another court ball…" Rika muttered under her breath. "What a show off." _

_The game continued, and to Rika's disgust, she had lost six games to five. _

_Ryoma just put on a stony face and looked at her._

"_Mada mada dane," he had said for the fifth time during the game._

_Rika hit him across the face with her racquet. _

"_I'll beat you someday, loser. Just wait till you come back from Japan… I'll never forget the day when you…." _

_Ryoma glared at her. "Shut up," he ordered, standing back up._

"_Well, tell that to me next time we have a match, 'coz I'm going to waste you!" Rika predicted._

_Ryoma smirked, "We'll see about that, Yuuki. After I come back from Japan, it'll be six games to zero."_

"_Yeah, six games to zero to me," Rika retorted, picking up her racquet. _

"_Mada mada dane."_

Rika opened the door to the cubicle and peered outside just like what Ryoma had done.

_Coast clear,_ she thought, and hurried outside.

Something on the carpet made her slip, and she fell, face down.

"What the-?" She started to say, and realized what the object on the ground was.

A racquet. A tennis racquet that was red and had the letter R on the handle…. She picked it up and placed it in her bag. She'll have to return it to him after school.

Dusting her skirt, she walked off to her favorite place: the great flagpole on the top of the English building.

Ryoma, on the other hand, was desperately trying to shake off his 'buddy'. "I know you have that awesome move called 'Twist serve', and I've been trying it with my two years worth of experience, but I still can't do it. Can you-?" Paul stopped, and looked around.

"Ryoma? Hey, Ryoma! Where are you?" He shouted in the deserted corridor.

* * *

The tennis prodigy climbed up the fire emergency staircase, hoping to avoid any annoying people (Namely Samantha, Michelle and Paul). Pulling himself onto the top of the building, he found that his new found territory was already occupied.

* * *

Rika lay on the concrete ground, in the shadow of the flags that floated in the breeze above her. She found herself opening her eyes to look at the newcomer.

"Oh. It's you," She said, and sat up.

* * *

"How-What?" Ryoma found himself tongue-tied. A familiar girl sat up and blinked at him. Ryoma backed away.

"NO! Don't go!" Michelle pleaded, grabbing her bag.

"This place…. Is occupied…" Ryoma noted, and walked to the opposite end of the rooftop. Michelle sighed and blinked at him.

_Hey, My name's Michelle, and there's a party…_

She was onto her hundredth-and-one way on how to ask him out.

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Rika rubbed her eyes, and moved her bag so her friend could sit down beside her.

"Um… Sorry about yesterday. It's just that those girls were so mean to you! And…I couldn't help it…" Danielle apologized, squatting down.

Rika smiled. "It's okay. The girls were already mean to me anyway, telling them really didn't make any difference."

Danielle sighed and offered a can of soda to her friend. Rika shook her head.

"Oh. Right. I forgot, here, take this one." She pulled out another can with the words 'PONTA' written on it.

Rika accepted the offer straight away. Danielle grinned.

"I read from a magazine that Ryoma Echizen liked PONTA as well… Is that wh-" She started asking.

Rika cut her off. "No, it's just others don't seem to suit me. Besides, I started drinking this when I was in kindergarten. I didn't know him then." She explained, noticing the cheeky smile her friend had on her face.

"Dani-elle, you know I don't like him!" She exclaimed.

"Sure, sure, that's what they all say…" The smile broadened.

"No really! I don't like short guys!" Rika realized what she had just said and burst into fits of laughter. Danielle joined in.

"Short-sshort!" Danielle gasped, clutching her stomach. "Honestly Rika, you're really picky!"

Rika grinned. "Yeah, and just my luck to have a short friend!" She teased, looking down at her friend.

"Hmm… I'm around the height he is… perfect!" Danielle commented with laughter.

Rika punched her playfully, "He's too arrogant for you!" She warned.

Danielle, however, was not paying attention to her. She was busy staring at the building next to them.

"Isn't that… Ryoma and Michelle?"


	6. Cinderella vs The driver

**Chapter Five**

Ryoma sat with his back to Michelle, staring up at the clouds above him. Michelle edged towards him slowly, her mouth silently mouthing the words of her one-hundredth-and-thirtieth way of asking him out.

But just as Michelle was only a foot away from him, he stood up suddenly.

"My racquet!" He shouted, and ran down the stairs.

"Wait!" Michelle begged after him. "I'll think of another way! Just wait!" She scrambled down the stairs, still pleading for him to slow down.

Danielle raised an eyebrow at the little scene. "He's really slow, isn't he?" She noticed, chewing on a cookie.

Rika nodded, "yeah, it took him, what, fifteen minutes to realize his racquet's gone?"

Her friend shook her head, "that's not what I mean…"

"Then what are you talking about?"

"Uh… Never mind, guess you're slow too."

"What? I'm slow at realizing…what?"

"Nothing."

Rika sighed, "I have no idea what you're talking about. But I don't think he knows I've got his racquet."

"WHAT?"

"Ha, this time you said the w word!"

"No, What I mean is… how did you get it?" Danielle asked, looking at her friend curiously.

"Found it in the hallway, with brains like his, it's no wonder he was nearly always late…"

"Uh… late for what?" Danielle found it hard to keep up with her friend.

"Practices, meetings, tournaments, etc." Rika rolled her eyes and finished her drink.

"The bell's going to go," she told Danielle.

"Oh, right. What do you have next?"

"… P.E… You?"

Danielle fished out her timetable from her bag and studied it. "Argh, Math." She answered with a scowl.

Rika walked off, waving a hand. "Good luck with Ms. Herald!"

"…. Yeah… I hope…Hey! The Gym's beside the math block! Oi! Wait up!"

Danielle chased after her friend who was already halfway down the stairs.

"RIKA!"

Miss McLain, the P.E teacher, blew her whistle for the tenth time. "QUIET! Girls, gather- GATHER AROUND!" She shouted.

Rika sat among the non-sporty girls, she hated P.E, even when they played tennis. There just wasn't enough motivation in her to actually pick up a racket and really try hard. In fact, the last time she ever played tennis full-heartedly was that match against Ryoma.

"Rika, it's your turn." The teacher shouted.

Rika got up with a sigh and took the racket Kelsey gave her. Walking slowly towards the net, she waited for the opposition to serve.

"WHOA! Wow, did you see that?" A girl's voice screamed out. Everybody, including Rika, turned to look at her. The girl, whose name was Betty, was pointing at the boys on the other court.

It took a moment before Rika actually realized what everyone was sighing about. Ryoma was having his turn in serving, and even though he was using his right hand and seemed quite bored, no one could even return his serves.

The boy's P.E teacher, Mr. Latin, waved at Miss McLain and jogged over.

"How about a girls versus boys tennis game?" He asked with a grin.

Miss McLain raised her eyebrows. "With Ryoma on your team? Our team doesn't stand a chance. But, it's good motivation for them, so why not? GIRLS, GO TO COURT B NOW!" She yelled.

Rika dropped her tennis racket on the ground and followed the rest of the class. She gave no sign of recognition as she passed Ryoma,

"Any volunteers to play against Ryoma?" The teacher asked.

Nearly all the girls raised their hands about, looking excited.

_It's not like Echizen's going to fall for them if they lose a match,_ Rika thought, _but, that's just what I think._

"How about you?" Mr. Latin pointed at the only unenthusiastic girl, Also Known As Rika.

Rika shrugged at took a racket, "I don't care."

Miss McLain whispered something the other teacher, and although Rika couldn't hear what she was saying, it was obvious the teacher was talking about Rika couldn't stand a chance against Ryoma.

_We'll see about that_, she thought. The feeling of wanting to win burned up inside her. Three years of achieving nothing was enough to set her up, especially if the opponent was someone who had beaten her.

"Which?" He asked.

"Whatever. Smooth." Rika answered.

The racket landed with the label facing down. Ryoma took a ball out of his pocket and walked to the end of the court.

"Start."

He swung his racket and the ball came hurtling towards her, it was supposed to be quite fast, but somehow Rika found it easy to hit it back.

_I guess I still haven't forgotten the feeling of tennis._ She thought with a smile.

If Ryoma was surprised, he showed no signs of it, because he slammed the ball back right away, aiming for the bottom right corner.

Rika ran there at once, and hit the ball back again, silencing the rest of the class.

Ryoma, at this time, had already ran up to the net and was preparing to hit it back.

Rika pretended to put her weight on her right foot, making it to look as if she was ready to spring towards her right.

As she had predicted, Ryoma aimed for her left instead, and right away she hit it back, aiming for the bottom middle so he had to run there.

But to her amazement, Ryoma just stood there and didn't move, even when the ball hurtled past him.

"What are you doing?" She yelled.

His green eyes were wide in shock._ A priceless expression coming from Echizen, _Rika thought.

"Yuuki?" He whispered.

Rika's shoulder's slumped. _He still remembers me._

"You're Yuuki right?"

"No." Rika lied. "I'm Sarah."

"You hit me with the racket didn't you?"

The class gasped in horror.

"No. I didn't."

"Yes you did."

"No I didn't."

"Mada mada dane."

"Stop saying that! Or else…" Rika hurriedly closed her mouth._ He nearly got me that time._

"Or else what?"

"I, um… will…"

"will what? Mada mada dane."

"STOP!"

"Mada mada da-"

"Shut it!"

"Mada ma-"

"Shut up or I'll tell everyone the time you took Kuropin to the bath!"

That shut him up. The whole class sat in silence, even the teachers stared at Ryoma with mouths wide open.

"I mean, um…" Rika had no idea how to get herself out of the awkward situation.

"That was an accident, how was I supposed to know Kuropin snuck into my bag!" Ryoma argued.

"You ruined the whole trip!" Rika refused to give up.

"No I didn't. You were the one who made it worse by feeding Kuropin chocolate."

Betty gasped.

"Chocolate? That's poisonous to cats!" She exclaimed.

Rika looked at her. "I didn't feed her, the chocolate bar just happened to… fall down on to the floor."

"Yeah, right." Kelsey muttered. Then she realized something.

"What do you mean by the bath?" She asked.

The class (mainly the girls) shot the evil eye at Rika, each of them thinking the worst.

"The bath I'm referring to is the bath in Japanese hotels, as in the traditional Japanese bath. It's something that nearly every guest in the hotel goes to. It's divided into girls and boys. I only knew that he brought Kuropin because the cat sprayed water everywhere and people were shouting very loudly." Rika explained, Ryoma nodded, to back her up.

Ms McLain looked impressed. "That's something new. Rika Yuuki finally talks for more than two seconds."

A smaller voice came from the crowd. "Can we, um… carry on the match? I really do want to see it end… I mean, it was a, um… good game… I mean… um…"

Everyone turned and saw a girl blushing furiously from the back of the class. Nobody knew her name, as she never seemed to make an impression. People didn't like her or dislike her. They simply forget about her.

"Of course… um… Janet? Jane? Jack?" Ms McLain checked her roll. The girl shook her head.

"It's Ez. Esehmia." She whispered.

Ryoma took out a tennis ball from his pocket and walked back to the serving line. Rika moved to the center and prepared herself.

The ball came whistling by her ear, and she managed to just hit it over the net, where Ryoma was waiting.

The game ended with six games to four.

To Ryoma.

* * *

A/N: Sorry about the missing chapters- I swear, I have no idea how they disappeared... Also, I haven't been using this account since, well, a long, long time. My new account Damian Cross consists of Harry Potter fanfics, if you want to check them out :)


	7. Cinderella's childhood

This chapter is mostly about Rika's personal history and its pretty short. Hope you still like it! 

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**Chapter 7**

Rika had already walked home when she realized she still had Ryoma's racket. Shrugging off her bag, she placed the racket beside her books and studied the racket.

_How can this racket be worth ten thousand dollars on Ebay?_ She wondered, staring at the places where the string had began to become loose_. I wouldn't buy this thing, there are better rackets for a half- no, one _tenth_ of that price. But that just shows how popular Ryoma is in the tennis world. _

Turning her attention away from the racket, she concentrated on her homework, drawing up parabolas for maths, reading and answering questions on an essay for English and randomly composed a four-bar melody as practice for her upcoming theory exam. 

Rika had been (forced) to do numerous extra-curriculum activities when she was small, and she had tried to fail in all of them in hopes of discouraging her parents. But this action only made her parents sign her up for more clubs. She had tried horse riding, soccer, origami (this she liked, because the teacher was an old Japanese person who liked to talk and talk and always forgot that she was here to learn about origami), Piano, violin, the Junior Book club, knitting, embroidery, cooking, karate and (for some weird reason) the Intermediate Detectives Club. 

Nearly all the clubs Rika managed to escape from, because the teachers or the organizers had strongly advised her parents to let her do something else. All that was left was Piano, origami and the (now) Teenager's Book club. 

Despite having been forced to meet new people, Rika didn't make any friends, but she didn't make any enemies either. She always stayed in the corner and read her book, or practiced tennis against the wall of the building. Nobody paid any attention to her after she had made it very clear to stay away. 

Her lack of talking and socializing made her parent's very worried, and had sent her to many psychologists before they realized that the best thing for their daughter was to leave her alone and let her do what she wanted to do.

And so, she had joined her primary's tennis club, where the tennis players there were very dedicated to the sport. They didn't bother introducing her when she came in, and she was glad that they never attempted to start conversations with her. The coach was dead serious about tennis and had trained them hard. He even made sure all of them were sweating till their shirts were wet until he said that practice was over. 

Ryoma had transferred to her school during mid-year, and as she was the only one who could speak Japanese fluently, she was forced to translate for him and talk to him.

Ryoma, she soon realized did not talk much as well, in fact, he never talked. So being his translator was easy- you didn't have to say anything. 

At tennis, she was his practice partner as well, even though he played way better than she did. They stayed as partners until sixth grade, and they had barely exchanged a word to each other.

Then something happened, Rika didn't know what, but during a match with him, she suddenly felt the need to win, she wanted to be better than him and wipe that arrogant knowing look off his face each time the coach yelled at him to be nicer to her. She found herself staying for hours after practice was over, improving her serves, making sure she was prepared for every ball that hurtled back towards her.

But, three months later, he had resigned himself from the team. He was moving back to Japan. 

Rika was desperate, she wanted to know if she stood a chance against him, and so she tricked him into coming to the tennis tournaments. It was the first time she had lied to someone.

It was also the first time she had attacked someone, yelled at someone, and had talked more than three words to someone.

The rest, as you know, was history. 


	8. Cinderella tricked by the driver

Chapter eight! This chapter's a bit longer. Please keep reading and reviewing! Constructive criticism is also appreciated. 

* * *

**Chapter eight**

The next day at school, insults flew from all around Rika, trying to make her cry, or to run away and bawl at a teacher. Nothing worked. 

At science, Mr. Hines continued to say her name (and Ryoma's) wrong. Rika continued to ignore Ryoma and her teachers, burying herself in some thick hard cover book the librarians at the Book Club had insisted that she read, and yet had answered all the questions fired at her correctly.

The tennis coach had followed her to class from the tennis courts, asking her to join the team, but had received no answer during the ten minute walk.

Ryoma had taken back his racket with a grunt of thanks, and had stuck his hands into the pockets of his school shorts, looking expressionless even as crowds of fan girls circled him, gazing dreamily at him and glaring suspiciously at Rika. 

After school, as she was taking out books from her locker, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She ignored the person.

"Are you Rika?" A timid voice asked. Rika recognized the shy voice: Esehmia.

"I was asked by Mr. Jones-he's the tennis coach-to tell you that you forgot your binder at the gym." She told Rika.

Rika closed her locker and didn't answer._ Stop pulling my leg_, she thought, _can't you see I'm holding my binder in my hands? _

Esehmia continued, "Also, he said that Ryoma complained that you wrecked his racket." 

Rika turned around. "I didn't." She said, looking at the girl.

Esehmia blushed. "I-I didn't know. I'm just telling you what M-Mr. Jones told me." She stammered.

Rika walked away, _Mr. Jones must be desperate_, she thought.

Ryoma brushed past her as he walked by in the crowded hallway. She barely caught what he said to her, but she heard a few words. "Mr. Robinson" and "In the Gym."

She stopped short after that. Mr. Robinson was her primary tennis team's coach.

She turned right around and walked (rather slowly) towards the gym.

* * *

Lies.

* * *

She should have known better. 

But she didn't. 

* * *

_Ryoma that liar_, she thundered up the stairs to her room and slammed the door. Anger sketched on her face. 

Flopping onto her bed, she glared angrily at the t-shirt on her desk, as if everything was its fault.

* * *

_Mr. Jones looked up from his clipboard with twinkling eyes. Ugly eyes, Rika called them. He motioned for her to go into the courts. "He's waiting." He said. _

_Rika walked in- with her heavy bag and armful of books and all -and found herself face to face with Kelsey. _

_"Here." Kelsey gave her a racket. Stupidly, Rika accepted it, putting her bag and books against the fence in the corner. _

_She looked around: there was no sign of a bald head, nobody yelling with a deep voice and there were no sounds of a racket being slammed into someone's back. _

_"Oh no." She said under her breath. _

_"Oh yes!" Mr. Jones smiled from behind her. _

_"Welcome to the tennis trials! You've just signed yourself up!" _

_"I didn't even sign anything!" Rika spluttered. _

_"Picking up a racket at the trials meant signing up for the team in my world." The coach smiled, revealing sparkling white teeth. _

_Ryoma came from behind the beaming coach, actually having the manners in looking slightly guilty as Rika glared at him._ You are so going to pay,_ she thought angrily, clutching her racket tightly, already thinking of ways to beat him. _

_Mr. Jones blew his whistle. "We'll start now! Split yourself into teams of four and start playing." _

_Rika picked up her things and turned to the exit. _

_Only to find it padlocked. _

_"Tut tut, no way out!" Mr. Jones sang. _

_Padlocked. As in. Locked in. No way out. _

_Rika slowly turned around. _

_"Hey Ryoma," she called, her face expressionless, "I'm going to beat you." _

_"Mada mada dane." _

_We'll see about that, she thought with a grim smile. _

_An hour later, Mr. Jones awarded the people who made the team their own school tennis t-shirt, which Rika had refused to take. It was only when she took her drink bottle from her bag on her way home, that she had found the t-shirt neatly folded in a plastic bag with a note stuck onto it, in her bag. _

_As soon as she read the note, she tore it up and threw it in the nearest rubbish bin, seething with anger. _

"Practice is everyday after school. Failure to attend means severe punishment. That means I will make sure your parents won't buy any more ice cream for you. Even Cookies and Cream. Hope you have a nice day." _The note said, with the big loopy signature that Mr. Jones had written with a thick red marker on the bottom corner. _

* * *

Rika didn't even bother to try on the t-shirt. 


	9. Cinderella receives an unwanted present

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

**Chapter nine**

The note showed several things.

First: Mr. Jones was a sneak.

Second: Mr. Jones had either read her English essay or had talked to her parents. Both which made him a nosey parker.

Third: Rika really, really liked ice cream. Especially the Cookies and Cream flavour.

After several minutes of wondering what to do with a t-shirt she's wasn't ever going to wear, Rika settled down in throwing it at the back of her parent's wardrobe. The note had said to turn up for practice only, not to turn up_ wearing _the t-shirt.

_Take that_, Rika thought triumphantly.

Taking out her science notebook, she absentmindedly flipped through it, although only the first page was full. She then stopped at the middle and, with sudden inspiration, took out a big black marker, and wrote: "I DON'T belong in the tennis team. HELP!" and tore the page out, sticking it on another t-shirt (she carefully picked out one that was all orange, the opposite colour of blue, which the tennis team t-shirt was) with cello tape. After that was done, she folded her arms and gazed at her own handiwork.

"Perfect." She muttered a slight trace of a smile on her face.

"Excuse me?" A deep voice came from the doorway. Rika jumped, she hadn't realized her father was standing with his hand on the door knob.

"What is that?" He laughed, pointing at the shirt.

"Nothing."

"I don't belong in the tennis team? Help? What does _that_ mean?"

"I'm telling you, it's nothing."

"It must be something to cause a smile on your stone face." He teased.

"It's for art." She said with little expression, annoyed that her dad was making fun of the sign.

"Sure. Sure. Anyway, your mum wanted me to give you this." He gave her a large parcel. "You'll like it." He said, with a wink.

After he closed the door, Rika slowly opened the parcel. The contents made her gasp.

Note: It was a gasp of horror.

Inside, neatly folded was a scrapbook. But that wasn't what made her gasp. It was what it contained. The photos of Rika when she was small, being forced to wear different costumes from different animes were stuck inside the scrapbook, with pictures of the characters in the anime, comparing her with the characters.

Her mother had promised her that she will take the photos and create a scrap book. "Something for you so you can remember your childhood days." She had said with tears in her eyes as Rika gave her the permission form to let her go to the tennis tournament several years ago.

"I don't want it." Rika had replied, looking disgusted at the photos. "Oh no, dear, you'll regret it when you're grown up. No, I insist. After all, even though I'm too old to rent animes from the shop to watch, I'm certainly not too old to make clothes and scrapbooks."

Rika's mother was a professional otaku, in Rika's opinion, whose job was to translate the Japanese and Chinese versions of different mangas into English. It was the job she'd always wanted, apparently, from when she had first picked up a volume of manga off the shelf of a bookstore.

Rika reluctantly flipped the scrapbook open, looking at the horrendous costumes she had to wear. _Mum's right_, she thought, _it really does remind me of my childhood, it reminded me of all those times I had to wear these and spent an hour of torture everyday just to please her. _The costumes her mother had made were donated to the clothes bin straight after taking photos of Rika wearing it, none of the costumes lasted 24 hours in the Yuuki's household.

Rika tossed the scrapbook aside and threw the packaging in the bin. _What next? _She wondered_, After the scrapbook's done, what's the next project for her? _Rika hoped that the target of the next project wasn't her.

As always, Rika was mistaken.


	10. Cinderella vs Ez

A/N: Sorry I haven't been updating! I was uh... busy and I sort of... forgot about this... anyway, enjoy and Please read and review!

Chapter Ten

After school the following day, Rika walked to the tennis courts alone, with the orange shirt underneath her uniform. She changed in the girl's room and was pleased that Mr. Jones immediately went red after seeing her.

"Wh-What the? Where is the t-shirt I gave you?" He demanded, shaking his clipboard.

"I don't know." Rika didn't like answering questions.

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

"I don't know what I mean by 'don't know'."

"What do you mean, you don't know what you don't kn- stop with the confusing words!"

Rika didn't answer, she turned around and picked up a tennis racket from the pile. The coach was still spluttering as she walked away from him, warming up her arms by swinging the racket around.

"R-Rika! I'm still talking! At least take the sign off, please?" Mr. Jones pleaded at her back.

Rika turned around. "No." she said.

There were already a lot of people warming up in the courts, girls on the left court, boys on the right court. Ryoma was already there, standing against the fence in the corner, looking bored.

Rika headed towards the girl's side and ignored the questioning looks her teammates gave her. Mr. Jones, defeated, came in after her, shaking his head and muttering angrily.

Finally he blew his whistle. "Team up in pairs, we'll practice serving today!" He called.

Rika soon found herself being knocked over as the girls all rushed to Ryoma, begging him to be their partner. Rika stood up and dusted her shirt and shorts. _It's going to be fun watching him defend himself of fans _she thought with a straight face.

Mr. Jones was knocked over as well, as was looking quite annoyed as the desperate screams coming from the girls became louder and louder.. But it wasn't just the girls, the boys were crowding around Ryoma as well.

"Excuse me, coming through! Ryoma's buddy!" Paul managed to get in front and started battling with the crowd. "Ryoma's MY partner!" He hollered, only to find himself pushed and pulled until he fell on the ground.

Ryoma sighed, and made his way through the crowd. He took a tennis ball from his pocket and left the courts.

Silence.

Rika watched him go, and took a tennis ball from the box beside Mr. Jones. _Show's over,_ she thought, and began bouncing the ball on her racket.

Ryoma headed towards the side of the Gym, where he practiced by himself, hitting the ball against the wall of the building, each time hitting the exact same spot. He didn't realize that someone was watching him until he heard the faint click of the camera. He stopped, turned his head, and carried on.

The stranger continued taking photos of him, every movement he made was recorded on film. She smiled at the boy.

"I know you." She sang, coming closer towards him. She was a middle aged woman and spoke with the faintest trace of a Japanese accent.

"You're Echizen. Echizen Ryoma. Right?" She asked, watching him hit the ball back and forth with the racket.

"No. I'm Peter." He lied, managing a straight face.

The woman giggled. "Ryoma, don't you remember me? Oh, wait, of course not. We haven't met before have we?"

He didn't answer.

"Well, don't worry, I'm not going to stop you from practicing. I just wanted to know where Rika is. Yuuki Rika, I'm sure you know who she is."

That made him stop. He turned around and immediately noticed the resemblance between Rika and the woman.

"You're your mother." He said. It was not a question.

"Quite right. Do you know where she is? She doesn't tell me anything these days…. Well, she never told me anything before, except that she made it into the tennis team."

Ryoma nodded his head in the direction of the courts. "She's there." He answered, and started practicing again.

"Thank you." She walked away quickly, her camera still clicking away as she took in the Gym, the Maths building and other "Scenery".

Ryoma swung his racket back and forth, _they're opposites_, he thought.

Rika was partnered up with Eshemia, the only person besides herself who had not rushed over to Ryoma's side. At first, Rika played lazily, even letting several slow returns bounce twice in her side before she picked it up and served. But after several games, she realized that Eshemia wasn't playing her hardest as well.

"Eshemia." Rika said. Eshemia looked back at her with large, shy eyes.

"Y-yes?" She stammered, gripping her racket tightly.

"Let's start." By saying this, Rika meant she was playing for real now. Eshemia understood right away. But Mr. Jones, who was pacing nearby, didn't catch on.

"What are talking about? The game started ages ago! Your head is in the clouds today!" He raised his eyebrows and waggled them, singing the last bit.

Rika ignored him, Eshemia blushed and Mr. Jones sighed heavily. "I don't get young people these days." He said, and wandered off to bother another person.

Eshemia picked up the ball and tossed it up in the air, she then swung her racket with all her might and the ball hurtled towards Rika.

Rika was surprised at the girl's strength, but she didn't let that slow her down. She sprang towards the ball and slammed the ball back, using more force she had intended to.

Eshemia seemed unfazed at the speed of the ball, and hit it back straight away, aiming for the bottom right corner.

Rika was already there though, and she returned it, but with little force this time, so the ball slowly rose into the air and came bouncing slowly into Eshemia's area. Eshemia, surprised at the slow return, was already prepared to hit the ball back, but just as she was about to swing her racket, the ball dropped to the ground. She quickly took two steps back and stopped the ball from bouncing twice in her area. The ball just managed to sail over the net.

Rika again, was ready to return the ball, but this time she hit it with a lot of force, and ball shot across and landed on the white line. Eshemia stood stunned, _she really is good! _She thought, a bit scared and pleased at the same time.

Rika suddenly noticed that someone was applauding. She turned around and stared at the newcomer.

"What are you doing." She asked in a monotone.

"Sweetie, I'm taking photos, can't you see? It's my new project! To make sure I capture some of the moments where you're enjoying yourself! Which is playing tennis, of course!" Her mother shook the camera and continued to click away.

Rika turned around, her cheeks slightly red. "I don't need photos to remember." She replied, her racket shaking slightly.

"But its fun! Isn't it? I took pictures of Ryoma as well! He didn't mind!"

Rika rolled her eyes. _That's because he knew it was useless to stop you,_ she thought.

"Fine. Click away. Just don't disturb me." Rika motioned for Eshemia to serve.

Esehmia looked uncertainly at Rika's mother, who gave her an encouraging nod.

"Don't mind my daughter," The woman said loudly, "she's naturally shy."

Mr. Jones, who had came to see what the woman was doing, let out an unbelieving snort.

"Shy? Woman, if _that's_ shy, I believe you need to look up the meaning in a dictionary." He pointed at the sign on Rika's shirt. Mrs. Yuuki stood up straight, looking slightly offended.

"I know what shy means, Mr.-I'm-everything-, and _that_ is a sign of disagreement, which is_ different_ to being shy. Perhaps _you_ are the one who needs to expand your vocabulary." She argued back in a loud voice. At this, Mr. Jones went red and opened his mouth to rebut the statement.

"The sign is _not_ a sign of disagreement, it is sim-"

"It is." Rika's clear voice cut him off; shutting the coach up.

"E-excuse me?"

"It is a sign of disagreement." Rika motioned for Eshemia to serve again.

Eshemia, noticing the growing tension between the adults, quickly threw the ball into the air and brought her racket down. The ball shot across the court, scattering the adults.

Rika slammed it back, fully aware that her mother was at the side clicking away with the camera.

Mr. Jones had stopped his attempt to argue with the Yuukis and was applauding soundly as the two girls ran around in front of him, trying their best to return the shots.

"Bravo! Nice! Yes! Aim for that corner!" He kept shouting.

Mrs. Yuuki was at the side as well, giving orders to Rika.

"Stand with your feet more apart! Yes! Now slowly turn your head this way! Rika! Stop moving so fast! RIKA!" As usual, Rika didn't pay any attention to her mother; she was paying so much attention to the game, she couldn't even hear what the coach was yelling about in her ear.

The game soon ended with Rika finally breaking free of deuce and winning the overall game. Eshemia at this point, was so tired, her legs gave away and she sat on the ground with her t-shirt soaking with sweat.

Rika was tired too, but she didn't show it. She picked up the ball and her racket and placed them back into the boxes.

_I think I'll come here during lunchtime, _she thought,_ I've become rusty over these years_. And with that, she left the courts and walked home, leaving her mother behind.


	11. Cinderella practises tennis

A/N: Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 11**

True to her word, Rika practiced every lunchtime. Danielle joined in sometimes, but she just couldn't score a point against Rika. Most of the time she just watched Rika hit back every ball with both accuracy and strength.

"How come you pretended you suck at tennis when you weren't?" Danielle asked Rika one lunchtime. Rika had paused and walked over to have a drink.

"There wasn't any point." She replied after a long hesitation.

"No point? It would've upgraded your P.E mark from a C to at least a B plus," Danielle pointed out. Rika just shrugged, and shoved her bottle back into her bag.

"I don't see how upgrading my report mark was worthwhile."

"Rikaaa…" Her friend sighed. But it was fruitless to argue back, it was obvious Rika didn't want to discuss more of the subject.

"Fine. I won't ask about that. But I will ask, however, why did you suddenly take up an interest in tennis?"

"Mr. Jones blackmailed me." Rika sat down and fanned herself with her science book.

"B-blackmailed you?!" Danielle was stunned,_ he's like, the first ever person to successfully blackmail Rika! Just how stalker-ish is this teacher anyway?_

"He's a freak!" Rika suddenly exclaimed, angry blotches of red appearing on her cheeks.

Danielle nodded, she sympathized her friend. "How did he manage to blackmail you?"

"He threatened to remove ice cream out of my life." Danielle nearing choked on her sandwich, but muffled it up by coughing. If Rika hadn't been so serious, Danielle would've laughed long and hard.

"I-ice cream? Just… that?" Danielle managed to ask.

"Especially Cookies and Cream." Rika glared at the gym, her brown eyes narrowing as she saw Mr. Jones walked out of the building.

What she saw next made her eyes go even narrower. Ryoma was walking behind the coach, his left hand holding his racket, and his right clutching a piece of paper.

Danielle followed her gaze and raised her eyebrows. "What's that he's holding?" She asked, squinting.

"His racket." Rika immediately answered. Danielle gave a groan, and pointed at the shorter figure in front of them.

"I meant the piece of paper! I think it's… blue? Or yellow?" She stood up for a better view.

Rika sighed and stood up as well, but for different reasons. "Bell's going to go." She reminded her friend. Danielle didn't answer, nor did she made any movement to pick up her things, instead, she continued to squint at the two figures who were now having some sort of quarrel.

Rika left Danielle alone in the tennis courts, and hurried (no wait, she never hurries) to her Maths classroom, whatever Ryoma and the coach was talking about, it didn't concern her.

Ha.

She was wrong, as usual.

* * *

"Tournament this Saturday folks! Boys and Girls teams are on the same day, same grounds!" Mr. Jones shouted over the chattering students. Rika watched as the coach tried to separate two girls from smothering Ryoma with their hugs, and bit on her lip to stop her from laughing as Ryoma edged away, casting nervous looks at the crazed-fans.

"Permission form in the left hand corner of the first courts, I want everybody to take one, please!" Mr. Jones grunted as he finally pulled the girls off, his face with sweaty and red from the exertion.

Rika picked up the form, and read it quickly. It was lucky that she read it straight away, because in tiny writing at the bottom right hand corner were the words: "Rika Yuuki is to join the boy's team, pairing with Ryoma Echizen."

She immediately scrunched up the form and threw it in the bin. She didn't mind pairing up with Ryoma (She'll just let him do all the work on his own, how he liked to play tennis) but the fact that she had to be in the Boy's team made her good and angry.

"What is this?" She hissed to Mr. Jones, pointing to the stack of forms. Mr. Jones seemed unfazed at the fuming girl facing him, and smiled cheerfully. "There isn't enough boys to be eligible, so I had no choice but to enter a girl. By the way, you're name's Bob for the tournament, just for Saturday, okay?" Then, patting her back, he walked away whistling happily, not noticing that Rika was practically breathing out fire.

"Oi." Someone poked her with a racket. She turned around, her eyes still flashing.

"What?" She asked, looking down at Ryoma. He gestured at an empty court, oblivious that Rika was about to snap.

"Lets practice."

"Fine. Whatever." She walked briskly there, leaving him behind._ It'll be a good way for me to use all my extra energy,_ she thought as she glared at the coach.


	12. Cinderella goes to the tournament

A/N: Sorry I haven't been updating... I was too busy (coughlazycough). Thanks for the reviews! (and is it racket or racquet?)

* * *

Ichigo Lunette

KakushigotoAtae .Secret Gift

Spanish-Flower

AppleShortCake

blackrose4ever

mayouh101

bunnykim89

night-owl269

MinokaintheShadows

shuriken-thrower

Silver Fang 101

...and if I missed anyone, I'm sorry! Please read and review. All reviews (good AND bad) are greatly appreciated.

* * *

**Chapter 12**

Even Rika's normally talkative dad was speechless after seeing his usually emotion-less daughter seethe in anger as she paced around the living room. Her hands were balled into fists and with each step; her lips grew thinner and thinner.

Finally, she stopped, and a large smile stretched across her face, contrasting her furious mutterings just seconds ago.

"That's it! I'd go as a GIRL!" She nodded approval to this solution and sat down on the couch, her eyes flickering with humour as she imagined the coach's face.

Her father remained silent, his eyes wide and frightened.

"What kind of monster are you?" He demanded. "How dare you abduct MY daughter!" Then he started laughing, banging his fists on the armchair.

"We should open some champagne! After all these years, Rika Yuuki finally realises she's a girl!" He guffawed and shut up immediately as Rika returned her dad with the usual death stare.

"I was just joking. By the way, what's that?" He gestured to a piece of paper that seemed to have had undergone some serious scrunching.

"Form." Rika didn't even look at the paper.

"May I ask, for what?"

"You've already asked."

"You're such a pert! But it's a permission form right? And that means you need your mother or me to sign it, so it's best if you tell us what it's for." Mr. Yuuki sat back with a chuckle, wanting to hear how his daughter will rebut his argument starter.

"You can read right? Then pick up the form and read it." The response was immediate and cold; the man could almost feel the icy aura from behind.

"Nope, I can't, I only managed to run my business by luck. I depend on my managers to read for me." He acted stupid, and picked up the form, staring at it with a lost expression.

"Looks like gibberish. Ah! But I can read the little sentence down the bottom!" Clearing his throat he prepared to read.

"Rika Yuuki is to join-" Rika suddenly sprang up and snatched the form away.

"Alright. You win. It's for a tournament this Saturday right?" Sudden inspiration flitted across her face. "Just say you don't allow me to go. Save petrol for driving me to the grounds."

"Oh, but I can't! I want to be there to see my daughter play!" He whined, going as far as kneeling on one knee and clutching Rika's hand. "Please say yes." He added with puppy eyes.

Rika slapped his hands away. "Whatever. Just sign this stupid form. I'll go." With a huff, she stormed up the stairs and into her room, the sound of her door slamming echoed around the large house.

Mrs. Yuuki peered from behind the curtains and joined her husband onto the armchair. Silently they exchanged a high five both bore identical evil grins that matched their sparkling eyes.

* * *

Saturday came quickly, and Rika got up extra early to prepare. First she took a long shower and sprayed herself with strong perfume. Then she tiptoed back to her room and picked out a miniskirt (i.e.: her mother's) and her orange shirt, the colours clashed horribly, but Rika didn't care. Opening her mother's makeup kit (which she had 'borrowed' last night), she applied mascara and lipstick, smearing her lips with this horrible orange colour, making her look as if she had kissed a pumpkin. Her dark hair was finally free of the elastic tie she always tied it with, to Rika, every step was important.

Totally oblivious that her parents were nearly wetting themselves with laughter, they drove to the tournament grounds in one piece, both of them still cracking up.

The rest of the team was already there, stretching and talking. As Rika approached, all of them fought hard to stop them from sniggering, and even Ryoma's mouth twitched. The coach walked briskly towards them, waving the order of matches around. "We're going thi-CRIKEYS!" At this, the whole team (minus Ryoma) fell to the ground, weak with laughter.

"Ri-BOB! Stop, uh, um…" Even the coach surrendered to the bubbles of laughter rising from his stomach. This time Ryoma joined them, laughing long and hard.

Rika folded her arms. "I'm not a boy. I'm a girl. You just have to un-sign me right now."

"But there's a problem." Wiping tears, Paul stop up. "You're not a guy, but you don't look like a girl either!" Everyone continued to laugh, some pounded their fists onto the concrete, howling.

Rika bit on her lip. "So? If I don't seem like either, I can't participate right? Besides you can use the same player twice, so why can't you use a boy to be Ryoma's partner?"

Mr. Jones shook his head. "Each of them is going twice already, except Rio ma, we can't take the risk of overworking them. So, you have to play, no excuses."

Rika grumbled and unzipped her bag, taking out her racket. "I'm off practising." She said. The coach stopped her.

"First, let's wipe off the face paint and get you into some decent clothes." He handed her the team shirt and a pair of white shorts.

"You're so predictable." He added, before turning away to tell the rest of the team to shut up.

Rika strode into the bathroom and cleared her face of the muck, she even changed into the clothes she was supposed to wear. Truth was, Rika felt uncomfortable wearing make up and the miniskirt made it hard for her to even walk. Even her trusty orange shirt was covered with lipstick, and though it barely showed, Rika could fell it through the thin fabric.

When she returned, nobody laughed, they just stared at her. Turning around to go back to the bathroom, she felt someone pull on her shirt.

"It's fine. Don't worry, now you look like a human now." Paul grinned. He threw her a tennis ball and gave her racket to her.

"Come practise with us." Mike, another member said.

"We need your help. You're damn good for a girl." Another, Harry, added.

Rika accepted the offer and started stretching, not noticing that Ryoma had already left and was walking to an empty court to practice.

Watching the rest of her team laugh and joke around as they stretched and practised, Rika suddenly had a feeling she had never experienced before. She felt warm, it was not her body that was warm (even though it was, with the stretches) but her heart, and for the first time in her life, she was glad she was part of a team. Also, it was the first time someone acknowledged the fact that she was worth being friendly to. (Of course, excluding Danielle, but even then, she IS her cousin.)

* * *

"M School versus H School. Match is starting in five minutes at X court." The loudspeaker blared from overhead. Rika joined the others and made her way down to the right court. Meeting the other team, they exchanged a brief acknowledgement. Rika strode quickly away from the other team, blending in with the tall figures of her teammates. _I need something to cover my long hair,_ she panicked.

"Oy." Someone placed a cap onto her head. The cap slid down and covered her eyes, pushing it up, she looked around, Ryoma looked straight ahead, his green hair fluttering slightly in the breeze.

"Thanks." Rika manage to mumble. Ryoma grunted and quickened his pace. "We're second." He informed her.


	13. CinderellaCAUGHT?

A/N: Another chapter up! Yay!

* * *

**Chapter...13?**

Rika piled her hair on top of her head and covered it with the cap before entering the courts. The first match was Mike and Harry versus the other team's first double pair, Luke and Jonathan. As they exchanged handshakes, Rika sat down on the bench and surveyed the courts carefully.

"The ground doesn't have rocks, if that's what you're looking for." The coach sat down beside her. "You'll do well, I know it. I heard that you were a fantastic player in primary, how come you stopped playing?" Rika stayed silent.

"I don't know." She finally replied. "I just haven't thought about it." Surprisingly, Rika was even warming up to the coach.

"I may have seemed a bit like a stalker, but I'm not. I learned about your tennis skills long before that match between you and Ryoma during P.E class. My best friend was coach at your old primary, and he strongly recommended you when you applied for this high school." Mr. Jones gazed at Mike and Harry as they rushed to return the shot.

Rika was silent for a few moments, Mr. Jones being calm was something she didn't know he was even capable of. Taking the silence as an invitation to carry on, Mr. Jones continued to talk. "You know that George-Mr. Robinson- couldn't be a proper tennis player because of an injury right? He trained you kids, who were not yet ten, hard. Especially you and Ryoma, he wanted you both to succeed and become a great tennis player, something he could never be. When he heard that you gave up tennis, I duuno how to explain his reaction. Disappointed ? Angry? It was a major shock to him, and he even told me all about your weaknesses, telling me to blackmail you if necessary."

This piece of new information aroused buried memories of Rika when she was still in primary. The fact that she has never seen her coach play a proper match against someone, how she accidentally walked in after practice to pick up her bag and found the big man's leg covered with blood. Everything linked together, and she felt a sudden urge to win. Gripping her racket, her knuckles turned white, feeling guilty about how easily she had given up tennis.

"Did Ryoma know? About the injury and everything?" She asked, raising her head to look at the skinny coach. He smiled, "long ago, apparently after he left America, he sent a whole case of medicine to George."

Ryoma, who was at the side watching the match, looked at Rika briefly as she looked at him. "Why didn't you tell me? About Mr. Robinson unable to play tennis?" She demanded. Looking at his expressionless face, she felt her face go red with fury. "How could you not tell me? I bet you knew all this time! I could've- I could've-" Her vision became blurry with tears. The coach looked startled, he never thought the girl could cry over a person. Stiffly, he offered her his hanky.

Rika rejected his offer by pushing his hand away. "It's dirty." She said, Mr. Jones relaxed; this was the Rika he knew.

"M School wins, six to five. Next match will start in two minutes."

Rika stood up stiffly and chewed her lip. Her original plan was to let Ryoma do all the work and credit, but after listening to Mr. Jones, she knew she wanted to play. That is, play and win. Then she'll show to Mr. Robinson that she could still be a worthy tennis player, even after three years of not playing.

Ryoma seemed to know her plan, because he stood in the middle left side of the court, letting her serve first. Rika waited for the opposite team to be ready and listened for the whistle before throwing the ball in the air. Her racket swiftly cut the air and with a loud_ thwamp_, the ball shot across the court, bouncing in front of the player at the back, nearly hitting his foot. Gordon, the player who nearly bruised his foot with Rika's ball, took two quick steps back and returned the shot, but only just. The ball (sadly for Gordon) sailed over the net and met Ryoma, who immediately slammed it back with such force that neither of them could return it.

Both of them stood dumbfounded, staring at Ryoma who walked back to his starting position, his racket in his right hand.

"Go easy!" Mr. Jones's voice smoothly broke the tension in the atmosphere. Rika hid a grin. _Trust the coach to make the opposition even fiercer_, she thought. Regaining her posture, she served once more, the ball shot across the court once more, and Jack (the other player) ran to intercept it, unfortunately for him, the force of the ball was too great, and the ball travelled into the net.

"Thirty-zero"

Rika served once more, and watching the opposition brace themselves for a fast ball, she decided to give them a surprise. Tossing the ball high into the air, she hit the ball gently, Gordon only realised what she was doing after the ball had bounced twice in their side. The tennis ball had managed to go over the net, after it had rebounded of it, landed on the other side.

The game ended within five minutes, and during the quick break in between, Rika decided to borrow a hair tie from her mother, who was leaning against the fence, taking more photos of the tree beside the courts. Rika approached the eccentric woman quietly, not wanting to disturb her father who was 'meditating' on the lower branch of the tree. (Note: her father was sitting cross-legged and snoring even though he had excused himself from watching the game by saying, "It's time for my meditation!" and climbed up the great oak.)

"I need a hair tie," Rika muttered to her mother. Mrs. Yuuki paid no attention to her and continued clicking away with the camera. Finally after what it seemed like a whole stone age, she turned around, stuck her hand in Rika's pocket and pulled out a black hair tie.

"You've already got one, sweetie, why be greedy?" She purred, hiding a snigger. Rika snatched the hair tie out of her grasp and ducked behind the tree to tie up her hair.

"It was you." She accused. "You gave the coach these clothes didn't you?"

"Oh, no I didn't. Mr. I'm-Everything thought up everything!" Her mother denied, finally returning the camera to its case.

"Liar. Why else does the tag on the shorts say: To Rika with love?"

"The coach must love you very much."

"He's a stalker, not a mushy piece of rubbish." Was the sharp reply.

"A mushy piece of-? That's not very nice!" Mrs. Yuuki sounded upset, twirling her black hair round her index finger.

"Also, the tag has your own logo on it. "Otaku freak"? Only you, mum." Rika emerged from behind the tree, scowling.

The whistle blew from the court. "M school please hurry up!" A woman shouted.

Rika hurried back to the courts, adjusting her cap. Ryoma was entering the courts as well, but from the other side. The other pair was already there, having a heated discussion with the referee.

"Bob Bobkin, come over here please." The referee called, Rika, with a sinking feeling in her stomach, walked over._ Bobkin? What kind of last name is that?_ She thought.

"These two over here-" She gestured to Gordon and Jack who were looking quite angry. "Say that your team is cheating, by having a player who is not supposed to be on court."

Uh oh.


	14. Cinderella plays tennis

A/N: Please read and Review!

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* * *

**

Chapter 14

Rika stared at the referee and the two boys, feeling disappointed and a bit angry. "I understand that it is against the rules, but-"

The referee cut her off. "Rio ma is a professional player, he cannot play in the high school competition. It is simply not fair to the opposition."

_Uh…what? _Rika blinked, unable to process the information quick enough. The woman sighed, misinterpreting the blink as a sign of stupidity. She produced a thick blue book out of the pocket of her jacket and flipped to page 237.

"Here." The woman thrust the book under Rika's nose. "Read it, line 48." Rika obeyed, scanning down the page to find the line she was told to read. _Rule 1047: Professional_-

"Read it out loud." The woman instructed, tapping her feet impatiently. Ryoma joined the small group, sticking his hands in his pockets. Rika admired him for looking so careless and arrogant even though he was in the middle of deep trouble. _It figures_, she thought, _Ryoma__ is__ the definition of arrogance. _

"Rule 1047: Professional tennis players, regardless of age, are forbidden to participate in any high school tennis competitions, area, state or nationals." Rika's voice echoed around in her head, and she slowly nodded, showing she understood.

"I'm afraid, as you can see, Ryoma is unable to play in any of the matches. According to this book, M school is disqualified for this match. However, after these boys negotiated with me, I have agreed to let both schools have a chance of winning this game. The condition is, only one person from M school can play. It can be Rio ma or Bob, it doesn't matter, because whoever is going up is up against two opponents. Is that clear?"

Rika nodded slowly, with Ryoma giving a small grunt. The referee turned around and blew her whistle. "The break is extended to a further five minutes while M school prepares."

Rika found herself alone with Ryoma in the middle of the courts. "You go," she said finally, after a moment of silence. _Might as well, since nobody knows I'm a girl, it's best to keep it that way. _

Ryoma shook his head. "No."

Rika was aghast, "e-excuse me? Me? Go on? Against TWO people?"

"Yeah."

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" She yelled, making the normally expressionless Ryoma step back in fright. Mr. Jones looked at the pair, raising a bushy eyebrow.

She lowered her voice. "It's already bad that you are a pro. It will just get worse if they realise I'm a girl."

"They won't." Was the calm reply.

"What do you mean?"

"If they find out, they won't tell."

"Huh?"

"If you beat them, they will be too ashamed to tell other people they were beaten by a girl." Ryoma slowly spelt it out for her.

It clicked. Finally.

"Oh… What makes you so sure I'll beat them?"

"Instinct, you're the only-" He never finished his sentence, because the whistle sounded again, signalling the start of the new game.

"_Leo Itchman,_" The referee winked at the boy, "get off the courts now, please. I believe Bob is going instead?" She looked enquiringly at the two. They nodded, and Ryoma left the courts.

Rika took her position at the middle of her side, preparing herself for the serve.

Jack tossed the yellow ball high in the air, ready to slam it across the court. Rika watched as the racquet connected with the ball, as if in slow motion.

She took a deep breath.

_I can do this._

Everything was silent, even Rika's mother's camera stopped clicking away; everybody was focused on the game, wanting to know the outcome.

_I'll do fine._

In the corner of her eye, she saw her team silently cheering her on, all with hopeful expressions (minus Ryoma). They wanted her to win.

_I'll reward myself with an extra tub of ice cream. Cookies and Cream. _

Rika, now smiling, stretched her arm out, fully prepared.

_I __will __win. _

She won the remaining games in the set, with the brilliant score of five games to zero.

* * *


	15. Celebration

A/N: Same as always, please read and review!

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******

Chapter 15

"CELEBRATION!"

Mr. Jones voice echoed around the room, and was joined shortly afterwards by all the members of the tennis club.

"Celebration time, ALL RIGHT!" The song blared from the speakers, drowning out the sound of glass clinking. Rika sat with Ez, both not joining in the cheering. Instead, they buried their heads into the feast, eating away as if they had been in the desert, starving for years.

"I'll baaaaahhh uwooooo," Rika growled, glaring at Ez. (I'll beat you.)

"Bu-Barrr, ai wann re aiiiissssuuu kuuram!" Ez replied, managing to stutter even with her cheeks bulging with food. (B-but, I want the ice cream!)

This "conversation" lasted for at least half an hour, both wanting the ice cream. Mr Jones had told them that dessert was to be eaten after the main course, so they had powered through the dishes of hamburgers, sushi, fries, toasted sandwiches, pies and other food.

Desserts do wonders to people.

Ryoma was also busy eating, but not for ice cream. He was simply hungry. He liked to eat traditional Japanese food for breakfast, but, unfortunately, his mother was too busy and had prepared toast on eggs for breakfast that morning. (Yes, toast ON the eggs.) So he didn't eat anything except a glass of milk, and now, after a short game, he was ravenous.

Mr. Jones sang into the microphone, singing, amazingly, in tune with Avril Lavigne's "Skater Boy," on SingStar. Everyone applauded when he finished.

"Next up, a duet! And the lucky singers are….." Mr Jones scanned the room. His eyes brightened.

"Ez and Ryoma!"

Ez dropped her fork. Ryoma dropped his hamburger.

Rika shook her head. _Embarrassing,_ she thought,_ I'm glad that, for once, Mr. Jones didn't pick me. _

Ez quickly swallowed her food, and stood up, swaying slowly. Her lips and face turned white, and so did her knuckles that were clutching her butter knife. "I-I can't d-do this!" She moaned. Rika sighed sympathetically, "Taaawwff rrrckk." (Tough luck)

Ryoma stared down at the hamburger on the table,_ I sang with my senpai back in Japan, I can do this in front of the tennis team here._ He stood up, much to the glee of the coach.

"ALRIGHT!" He yelled, slapping the shorter boy on the back and handing him the microphone. "Ez?" He asked, suddenly aware that the girl was close to breaking down.

Ez suddenly choked, and Rika thumped her back with her free hand. Rika swallowed the food in her mouth.

"Ez?" Now everybody was staring at the girl.

SLAM! The knife struck into the table, narrowly missing the loaf of bread she had been eating. Rika sat back into her chair, slightly shocked.

Ez continued to cough, tears pouring down her cheeks. "I-hic, can't do-hic, t-this!" She managed to say.

Mr. Jones felt accusing eyes glaring at him. "Uh…. Change of plan! Rika, you're turn!" He hurriedly handed the other microphone to Rika and sat beside Ez, trying to calm her down.

Rika gave another short sigh, and joined Ryoma, who was still staring at the knife, which was stuck deep into the wooden table.

"What song?" She asked, looking at the television screen. Ryoma shrugged, "I don't know any American songs." He answered. Rika raised her eyebrows, "I don't either," she murmured.

Pressing a button on the controls, she randomly chose song.

The intro started with a nice, even beat. Everyone stopped looking at Ez and concentrated on the two of them instead.

Ryoma, the first singer, squinted at the screen, waiting for his cue. Rika imagined how stupid she would sound, since she didn't uh… exactly pass her aural exams.

The bars filled with green as Ryoma sang into the microphone. He was good, for a person who never heard the song. Rika sighed;_ I don't even know what the song is called. _

Now it was her turn. She opened her mouth, and stared at the screen.

_Sometimes love works in  
Mysterious ways  
One day you wake up  
Gone without a trace._

Rika shook her head, no way was she going to sing to those lyrics. Instead, she sang to the tune of a song that she DID know, which was a Taiwanese band's song, "You are our star." (Note: No idea whether the English name is this or not.)

The lyrics, she used One Piece's opening song. She, strangely enough, is a big fan of One Piece (it was her mother's influence.)

"Mirai dake shinjiteru

Dareka ga waratte mokamowanai

Hashitteru jounetsu ga

Anato o KIRA meraseru

Mabushi sugi, demo mitsumeteitai

Dokka 'bigaku' kanjiteru

I'm really really stuck on you."

(_English:_

_I'll keep believing in the future, not caring if anyone laughs at me_

_The passion running within you makes you shine_

_It's too dazzling, but I want to keep watching you_

_Somehow, sensing those aesthetics makes me really really stuck on you_.)

Ryoma looked at her weirdly; the lyrics did not match with the tune. He sighed, and continued to sing.

"Dare ni mo nitenai yume no senaka o

Oikakete oikaketeku

Yoake o yobisamasu you na

Moeru KIMOCHI

ATOSAKI nante ima wa shiranai

Taikutsu na jikan yori mo

DRAMATIC te ni ireru made

Believe in Wonderland!"

_(English: _

_Chasing, chasing after the one in my dreams_

_This is like no one else_

_With a feeling that burns like it's kindling the dawn_

_I don't know yet what the consequences will be _

_Instead of these boring times, It's gotta be dramatic_

_Until we achieve that, believe in wonderland!)_

He sang with the right tune, which didn't fit his deep (ish) voice. Rika gazed at him, wondering how on earth he knew the song (and the tune).

Everybody else was cheering and whooping, ignoring the fact that "One love" was still playing in the background. It seemed as if Rika and Ryoma had practised the song together, although they didn't.

Ez and Mr. Jones were also clapping along; the atmosphere of the room had lifted considerably. Everyone (yes, even Rika!) was happy.

They continued to sing, to the correct tune, their voices mingling perfectly together. Ryoma's tenor voice and Rika's alto brought a new element to the upbeat song.

The final verse brought a standing ovation. Rika gasped for air at the end, red with excitement and the thrill of singing.

_It felt good, singing with Ryoma_, she thought,_ I've never sang like that before. _Little did she know Ryoma was thinking the same thing.

Mr. Jones smirked, _this is interesting,_ he observed. _Desserts do wonders, but songs bring miracles._

It seemed like a miracle to him, the two unsociable people singing their hearts out and actually doing something that wasn't tennis together.

"This is the start, of something new" He whistled, Ez threw her coat at him.

"Don't whistle that tune, I hate it."

He stared.

_Uh… does she have a split personality?_

Rika and Ryoma found themselves dragged onto the "stage" once more. "Sing, sing, sing!" People chanted, cheering them on.

Mr Jones stepped in. "I think it's time to stop singing. It's time for a team photograph! Boys and girls tennis team 2008 will go down in history!"

Everyone bustled about, getting into their positions. Rika stood between Ryoma and Ez, in the front row, because she was the second-to-shortest person.

_Click!_ The camera's shutters blinked; Rika's happiest moment was recorded on film.

* * *

A/N: Yes, I had to add One Piece into it somehow :P I'm now currently obsessed with One Piece. Please don't kill me.


	16. SET UP! Cinderella and the driver

A/N: Same as always! Please Review

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**Chapter...15?**

The can of coke hovered halfway in the air, its drinker temporarily too stunned to move.

"Danielle?" Rika looked at her cousin curiously. "Aren't you going to drink that?"

Danielle nodded, and hiccupped.

"You-hic, did WHA-hic?" She asked, her face red with disbelief.

"I played for the boy's tennis team." Rika calmly replied.

_Where's the temper tantrum? The stubbornness? The I'd-rather-go-to-hell-than-go-as-a-boy attitude, where did it all go? _Danielle didn't know what spell Mr. Jones had casted on her friend, but whatever he did, it was amazing.

It was Thursday, and as Danielle only joined her cousin for lunch two days a week, Rika hadn't had the chance to tell her what happened in the weekends.

"I ended up playing myself, but I won in the end. Then we went over to Mr Jones's wife's restaurant, where we sang SingStar and celebrated the win. Apparently the girls team also won." Rika continued to say, scrunching her glad-wrap up and tossing it in a nearby bin.

"SingStar? In a restaurant? Oooh, where is it? I want to go!" Danielle sat forward, eyes twinkling and ears ready for any information about the peculiar restaurant.

"Somewhere on the street two blocks away, it isn't far away. But the SingStar was only for us, since it is Mr. Jone's wife's shop."

"Did you…sing?" Danielle carefully asked.

"Yes. A duet."

"With…who?"

"What's with the hesitation? With Ryoma, because Ez didn't want to do it." Rika opened a can of PONTA, proceeding to gulp it's contents all in one go.

"What song did you sing?" Danielle was now one hundred percent interested.

"We didn't sing to the song on SingStar."

"That doesn't make sense. You guys used the microphones for SingStar?"

"Yes."

"But you didn't sing a song that was in the game?"

"No."

Danielle was bursting with questions, but she knew better than to continue the interrogation. Rika was already down to one word answers, a sign she was tired of the topic.

"Hey Rika!" Someone jogged towards the two girls, waving their bright coloured binder in the air.

Rika squinted against the sun at the person. It was Harry. Ez was close behind, looking as shy and nervous as ever.

"Emergency team meeting after school, at the gym." He panted, trying to catch his breath.

"Today isn't practise day. I'm busy after school." Rika said crossly, she had origami lessons.

"I-I think you should still go, Mr Jones looked quite worried." Ez stammered, as Rika cast a glare over the two fellow teammates.

"Fine. I'll go." Rika sighed. Whatever the meeting was about, it had better be worth skipping out on an afternoon of stories.

The two quickly spotted Ryoma walking up the stairs on the opposite building and scurried off to tell him about the news. Ryoma nodded shortly and walked away, ignoring Michelle and her friends who were still composing ways of asking him out. (They were onto number six hundred and fifty eighth way.)

* * *

Rika gently shut the door to her room, leaning on the wall breathing deeply. She was angry and confused, and had wanted to slam the door, but she couldn't find any energy left in her to actually do the action.

Déjà vu.

She remembered being tricked not long ago by Mr. Jones, Ez and Ryoma, and had stormed back home in the exact same way. Except this time, Harry was in it and Ryoma was not.

Actually, Rika and Ryoma were the targets this time.

She fell onto her bed, exhausted from the running, and recalled what had happened to her in the past two hours.

_The gym doors opened revealing the volleyball team. Rika stepped in, scanning the big room for her coach. _

"_Mr. Jones?" _

_Nobody heard her low voice and there were no signs of the coach nor the rest of the team. She quickly turned around, confused_. I must've gotten the place wrong,_ she thought. _

_Ryoma came up from behind, striding into the gymnasium. He looked at her questionably. _

"_We have a team meeting right?" He asked, Rika nodded. _Maybe we're just early,_ she thought. _

_They waited outside for fifteen minutes. Nobody came._

_Ryoma stood up and walked away. Rika didn't bother asking him where he was going, she was too angry at herself for being gullible. _

_He returned shortly, with a piece of paper in his hand. Wordlessly, he handed it to her. It seemed he had ripped it off the door of somebody's office, because the cello tape was still attached. _

_It read: _**Rika and Ryoma, I'm sick today, and the rest of the team is too busy. Our team is out of tennis balls. Mind picking them up from RWC Sports suppliers? Just give them your names and my name, they'll know.**

**Cheers,**

**T. Jones.**

_Rika __chewed on her lip. Should I go? I've already missed origami lessons, and there's no homework today. She made up her decision in less than three seconds. _

_She turned and __walked away, still clutching the piece of paper. _

_Ryoma followed._

_Everything went well, they got the tennis balls and had finished stacking the boxes away in the sports equipment shed, when they found four suspicious figures lurking behind a big tree. _

_At a closer inspection, Rika realised it was Ez, Mr Jones, Harry and Danielle. _

_She was not pleased._

"_I thought you were sick." She approached the older man, her eyes flashing menacingly. _

"_I was, but then I felt better…" His voice trailed off uncertainly as Rika continued to glare at him. _

_Danielle stepped forward. "We all thought you guys needed a push." _

_Now Rika and Ryoma were both confused. _

"_A push? You guys didn't push us." Rika stated._

"_Uh… we mean…. Just- just a push. You know, to get along with…with each other." Danielle finished lamely. _

"_What are you trying to say?" Dense Rika demanded to know. _

_Mr. Jones cleared his throat. "Erm, nevermind. How about we go over to Starbucks and I'll buy you all a treat?"_

_Rika, who liked it when other people paid for her, immediately nodded her head. Ryoma agreed to come as well, after a second of hesitation. The other three people also decided to go. _

_They left the school ground.__ Rika and Ryoma did not catch the wink that Mr. Jones gave to the rest of the group. _

_Sipping on her white chocolate frappacino, Rika wondered how long it took for people to go to the toilet. Mr. Jones, Harry, Ez and Danielle seemed to have gone for a long time. _

_Sitting across was Ryoma. The silence and awkwardness was building up as the clocked ticked away. _

"_It's been fifteen minutes." Rika noted, wishing, and not the first time, that they would hurry up and return. Their drinks were left on the table, untouched, the whipped cream slowly sinking into the drink. _

_Ryoma just grunted. Rika felt like hitting him on the head. _

_She tried to start a conversation, because the silence was starting to get to her. _

"_How was Japan?"_

"_Okay."_

"_How's your drink?"_

"_Okay."_

_Rika gave up. Conversing with Ryoma was impossible. _

_Minutes went by. Rika tried again. _

"_Are you emo?"_

"_Okay."_

_Rika was now officially annoyed. _

"_Are you listening?"_

"_Okay."_

_She reached across and grabbed his drink away from him._

"_Are you a loser?"_

"_No, give me back my drink."_

_Satisfied that he was listening to her, she slid the plastic cup over._

"_Mada mada dane." Ryoma smirked, finally using his favourite phrase._

"_Urusai!" Rika always said Japanese when she got angry, which wasn't very often. __Somehow, those three words annoyed the hell out of her. _

_Mr. Jones gave a small 'tut' from behind the potted plant. "The atmosphere isn't good, those two are so dense."_

_Ez and Harry nodded._

_Danielle sighed. _

_Operation: Getting-Ryoma-an- Rik__a-together was NOT going well._

_Suddenly Rika dropped her empty cup onto the table with a small clatter._

"_What happened? What did Ryoma say?" Ez whispered. __"WHAT DID HE SAY!" She demanded, almost screaming. The others shushed her. _

_Rika sat back in shock__. She couldn't believe what Ryoma just said._

_He repeated his sentence again._

_She couldn't process the information._

This couldn't be happening. _The words swirled around in her head._

_She shouldn't feel depressed, she didn't care…right? _

_But why did she feel as if Ryoma had dropped a bomb over her head? _

Rika still remembered what he said, and was still puzzling about why she felt so depressed. _After all,_ she thought to herself,_ he is nothing to me, just a tennis partner. _

The sentence haunted her dreams that night.

"I'm moving back to Japan."

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	17. Chapter 16

A/N: Next chapter will be the END! It's a bit rushed, because I wanted to hurry up and finish this story :P Anyways, please read and review!

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**Chapter..15?**

"MISS YAKKUL! WAKEY WAKEY!" Mr. Hines annoyingly cheerful face appeared dangerously close in front of her. Rika sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"What?" She scowled; it was obvious she was in a bad mood.

"We're having a pppooppp quiiizz tooddayay!" Mr. Hines answered, singing the last bit. He handed her the question sheet. "Happy answering!"

Rika looked down and read.

_Question 1__: If Ryoma Echizen hit the ball with his tennis racket, the ball travelled 35miles per hour to the other side of the court, and the journey of the ball was 5 metres, calculate the time the ball took. _

_Question 2__: Ryoma Echizen grew roses in his backyard, and because he was _**very **_interested in plants, he decided to cross-pollinate a red rose with a white rose. The red rose had a genotype of RR and the white rose rr. Using a punett square, determine what its offspring's colour will be. _

_Question 3__: Ryoma Echizen wanted to impress his_** favourite**_ teacher, _**Mr. Hines**_, so he stayed back after class and decided (for reasons unknown) to neutralize a base. Which should he use to neutralize calcium hydroxide?_

_Sodium Sulfate_

_Magnesium oxide_

_Hydrochloric acid_

She screwed up the paper, tossed it in the bin and stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

The whole class, including Ryoma, stared at her in shock.

* * *

Rika power-walked to the library, her face red with fury. Everything seemed to be about Ryoma Echizen, it drove her crazy. She couldn't wait until he left. Or was it the opposite? Was she acting so angry because she **didn't** want him to leave?

Rika shook her head. _No way do I want to see him again,_ she decided, _he's too much of an arrogant freak._

Danielle, the librarian monitor on duty, observed her cousin in interest, and thought it was a good idea to clear up Rika's mind by having a friend-to-friend chat.

She slid into the chair next to the scowling girl.

"Everything alright?"

"No."

"Is it because of Mr. Jones? Has he been threatening you?"

"No."

Danielle decided to go straight in.

"Have you ever felt…regret before?"

Rika stared at her as if she was an alien from Planet X.

"About what?"

"I'm asking you."

"Regret…I think so."

Danielle smiled to herself, she was getting there.

"Care to share?"

"I didn't buy Cookies and Cream ice cream last week, even though it was on sale."

Danielle's smile dropped,_ she's a lost case, _she silently groaned.

"And…in primary, I vowed to beat someone. But I didn't fulfill my promise, instead, I gave the entire thing up."

"You can always start over again."

Rika shook her head, "It's too late, next time I'll ever face them will be ages and ages away."

"It's never too late," Danielle declared, "He hasn't left yet."

Rika nodded, "I know b- wait, how did you know?"

Danielle coughed, "Oh, shoot, look at me, there's heaps of books for me to check in!" And before Rika could question further, the shorter girl sprinted towards the empty trolley.

Rika replayed Danielle's response again in her head, "It's never too late, he hasn't left yet…"

Rika smiled, of course! It was so easy, she'll beat him with a perfect score of six games to zero, he'll move back to Japan, and she won't have any regrets.

So easy.

Not.


	18. Chapter 19

**A/N: LAST CHAPTER!! and sorry, but I added something in the prologue... (please forgive me)! Because I forgot to add that part in before uploading it. I only realised it now when I was checking mystory online...**

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**LAST CHAPTER**

"Go Rika

"Go Rika! Go Ryoma!" Mr. Jones voice cheered, oblivious that both of them weren't even listening.

Rika swung her racket, aiming for Ryoma's top right corner.

_Smack!_ He quickly hit it back, his aim precise and true.

Rika got there just in time, but the ball bounced off the net.

"Deuce."

Ryoma smirked. "Mada mada dane."

It took all of Rika's self-control to stop herself from swinging her racket into his face.

She served.

He returned the shot.

Rika, at this point was boiling mad, and swung her racket with such force, it amazed herself as well.

"Advantage to Rika." She grinned.

Ryoma smirked.

"Deuce."

"Advantage, Ryoma."

"Deuce."

It was only their first game out of the set.

* * *

The scoreboard showed Rika's brilliant results. With a shining 6 figure beside her name and a dull 0 beside Ryoma's.

She couldn't help but say, "mada mada dane."

He narrowed his eyes.

"I'll reverse that score next time, Yuuki, for sure."

Rika smirked, "Mada mada dane."

The look on his face was priceless. Rika felt like laughing.

He left the following day, everybody from the science class and tennis team went to the airport to send him off.

Except for Rika.

"Oh, I'll be seeing him," She had said, grinning, "When I'm holding the trophy and him a certificate for participating."

Ez just shook her head, "Rika these days…"

* * *

Seven years later.

Rika carefully packed her bag, checking everything she needed was there. With a final nod, she made her way downstairs, leaving a note on the fridge.

_Gone to Wimbledon,_

_Don't come. _

_Rika Y. _

The flight was short, and Rika barely had enough time to finish the movie she was watching when the captain announced they were landing shortly.

Rika leaned forward and pulled out a magazine,

**Ryoma Echizen once again goes to Wimbledon!** The headline shouted out in big, bold printing.

Rika ripped the article out and folded it, smiling to herself.

"Let's see if he remembered his vow."

The stewardess tapped her on her shoulder. Rika, stilling grinning, turned to her.

"Yes?"

"I'm afraid you've just ripped out an article out of one of our magazines that you have to pay for. The total is Six dollars and seventy two cents. Without tax of course."

Rika sighed and bent down, carefully counting out the change to the flushing stewardess. The woman still didn't budge, even when Rika told her that she could keep the change.

Rika fought to keep her temper down as the red-faced stewardess started tapping her feet.

"What?" She asked irritably.

"A-and if you don't mind, can I have your autograph?"

* * *

With a small carryon bag and no other luggage, Rika stood on a seat to find the person who was supposed to meet her here. Looking down at the letter, she was supposed to meet someone called, "Leo I."

Ten minutes later, and getting quite angry and hungry, Rika was about to pick her bags up when…

_-A flash of green-_

Her eyes widened.

_-A short-no- TALL guy crashed into her-_

She raised her eyebrows.

"Ryoma?"

"Mada mada dane."

She laughed, and all of her anger strangely melted away. "Mind holding my bag? I need to buy myself a burger, I'm starving."

Ryoma wordlessly handed her a MacDonalds paper bag.

"You freak. How'd you know I don't like pickles?" Rika asked as she unwrapped the burger, checking its fillings.

Ryoma shrugged, "You're predictable. Anyway, your coach sent me these." He held up two entrance tickets.

"It's tonight, want to come?"

Rika nodded, "Of course!"

* * *

The door opened with a small creak, revealing a large room. Rika took a step in, her mouth open with amazement.

The red carpet couldn't be seen, from corner to corner, the room was packed.

But not with people.

With tennis balls.

She slowly made her way through the crowd, heading towards the table that stood under a diamond chandelier, drinking in every wonder of this room.

"This is…unbelievable," she breathed, staring at the crystal bowls of ice cream. The tiny paper tags in front of each shiny bowl described its' contents in detail. One particular bowl instantly caught Rika's eyes. It was the largest bowl, the crystal a shade of blue, green and dark purple, all swirled together like a miracle. But it was what was inside that made Rika gasp in astonishment.

"C-cookies and C-cream!" She stammered, gently cradling the bowl. She hadn't eaten a scoop in years, not after Ryoma left America to go back to Japan.

Suddenly everything seemed suspicious.

"Ryoma?" She turned around with surprisingly slowness, as if to emphasize her confusion.

He wasn't behind her.

In fact, as Rika's eyes darted to every inch of the room, he wasn't anywhere.

With a dull, quiet thud, she placed the bowl back to its original position. Wondering whether everything was a hoax or not.

"I'm leaving!" She shouted out to the empty room.

Her words echoed emptily back at her as she opened the door.

Actually, correction: She TRIED to open the door.

"Tut tut, no way out!" A man's voice sang from above. Rika knew that voice.

Mr. Jones.

As her hand slowly slipped from the brass handle, she heard many other familiar voices.

"How come you pretended you suck at tennis when you weren't?" This time, it was a woman's voice, slightly deeper than it was seven years ago, but definitely distinguishable.

"GOOD MORNING MISS YAKUL!"

Rika nearly cried. She thought she was able to escape the annoying wrath of her science teacher. _Make that _**EX**_ Science teacher, _she thought, biting on her lips to stop her from smiling.

"I want the ice cream!" A second woman shouted out from above. Rika smiled at the sound as well, it was obviously her, the girl who had coincidently (Rika scoffed at this) fell sick when it was her turn to sing, with Rika replacing her.

Rika turned around, facing the people who helped reshaped her life all those years ago. She could name every single face, even the eight strangers from Japan.

Ryoma was the last to step off the spiralling staircase, blushing a bit as he handed her a present.

Rika opened it.

And gasped.

In horror.

* * *

Her mother's scrapbook was back to haunt her. The photos of Rika wearing the cute and un-Rika-like clothes screamed out at her like the worst nightmare. But something felt different.. .it was a lot thicker.

She carefully leafed through it, stopping at the newly created pages. Her first match with Eshemia, when she was practising at lunchtimes with Danielle, the tournament, the celebration, everything was in there. And for once, Rika didn't scowl at the photos. She hugged the precious book of memories close, finally happy that her mother did something worthwhile. (That's harsh!)

Before she knew it, the party was at its full blast. Music blared from unseen speakers, and the partygoers had cleared away some of the tennis balls to make a temporary dance floor.

Rika sat in her "Chair of Honour" successfully eating every scoop of Cookies and Cream ice cream available, while Ryoma talked with the eight strangers next to her.

After about an hour, he finally introduced them to her. Pointing to a tall, slightly angry looking man wearing a green bandana, Ryoma said, "This is-"

"- Kaoru Kaido," Rika cut in, stunning Ryoma.

"You're Kunimitsu Tezuka," she added, pointing to a man with glasses and brown hair.

"Shuichiro Oishi, Shusuke Fuji, Eiji Kikumaru, Takashi Kawamura, Sadaharu Inui and Takeshi Momoshiro." Rika continued, naming every peson on Ryoma's old team.

Ryoma nodded slowly, "So, uh… guess I'll introduce you guys to other people, since Yuuki already knows you."

They moved away.

Rika left the chair too, talking to her old friends, wanting to know what they were doing.

It turned out that after they had finished high school, with Rika having almost perfect exam scores, Danielle became a social worker, rescuing children and giving them homes as she was loved by the teenagers (because she seemed to know everything about relationships, even though she was still single).

Ez became an actress. (She was a big hit, as her split personalities never failed to amuse the directors.)

Harry and Paul unexpectedly became cartoonists, and illustrated weekly in the tennis magazine that Rika's dad was boss of.

Hearing Danielle becoming a social worker didn't surprise Rika, it was Harry and Paul becoming cartoonists that scared her half to death. She didn't know the two could draw and handle someone like her annoying-and-way-too-hyper dad.

This was the first party ever held for Rika, and so far, everything was perfect. Rika didn't want it to end.

But then, the grandfather clock struck.

It was midnight.

* * *

_Cinderella hurried away from the prince, and in her haste, she dropped her glass shoe on the steps. The prince picked it up, a million questions swimming in his brain. He didn't even know her name. He handed the shoe to his servant, ordering that the one girl who fitted this glass slipper shall be his bride. _

* * *

Rika didn't want this to happen like it did with Cinderella. She was no poor, bullied girl who couldn't stand up for herself. She didn't wear glass slippers and she didn't like princes.

And so, Rika, who was NOT Cinderella, beckoned for the music to stop. Everybody looked at her, ready to listen to whatever she had to say.

She took a deep breath. "Thanks for this party, I really am grateful, as seeing as my game is tomorrow, I needed all the Cookies and Cream I could get."

Ez laughed. "T-that was m-my idea." She stammered as people stared at her.

"I think all of you remembered me once as a quiet, stubborn, and unsociable girl who only had her cousin as her friend. And to me, the fact that now I have so many friends is something that could only have been a dream before. And I know that this sounds very boring and very unlike me, but thank you so much for everything, I've opened my eyes and have seen that the world is not the boring, dull place it used it be for me." Rika blushed and handed the microphone back to Danielle.

Harry smirked and elbowed Paul, "Let's make her eyes open up even more." He muttered, winking in Ryoma's direction. Paul gave the thumbs up, "Anytime, should we start now? The atmosphere is almost perfect."

Harry nodded, and made his way through the crowd. Spotting Ez and Danielle, he gave his signal, which was a peace sign.

Everything was in place.

Now it depended on Rika herself.

* * *

Danielle immediately saw Harry signal and turned up the volume of the microphone to maximum. "Guys," she started, leaning towards the audience. "I think Rika would like to say extra," Danielle winked at Rika, who was bewildered at the turn of events, "To Ryoma."

The audience cheered like crazy. Ryoma and Rika stood there confused.

Rika took the microphone. "Uh… Thanks for buying me MacDonalds?" She said. The audience groaned.

"Uh… Thanks for driving me here to the party?"

"NOOOO!!" Among the audience, Mr. Jones was the loudest.

"Uh… Thanks for teaching me how to do the twist serve?"

Everyone (minus Ryoma) sighed.

Rika shook her head, not knowing what she had to say in order to satisfy her friends.

"Thanks for being my first friend?"

"You're getting there!" Someone, Samantha, Rika thought, yelled.

"Thanks for playing your hardest even though Mr. Robinson told you to go easy on me?"

Michelle couldn't take it anymore, and neither could the rest. _How can anybody be so dense as these two? _They all thought.

"Just ask him out!" Michelle shouted, followed by a giggling fit from the people around her.

Rika flushed, "B-But…I don't want him as my boyfriend!"

Ryoma grew red in the face too, at the sound of the word 'boyfriend'.

Michelle fought her way to the stage, and snatched the microphone away from Rika.

"Ryoma, I've liked you from the first time we met, I thought the way you played tennis was way cool. How about we go on Saturday night to that restaurant?" She nearly yelled, deafening everyone.

Harry and Paul looked at each other, "Was this part of the plan?" Harry asked. Paul shook his head.

Michelle handed the microphone back to Rika. "It's easy, just say what you like about the person and ask him for dinner, or just to grab some coke afterwards."

Rika stared at her as if Michelle had grown two heads. "Okayyy…" She said uncertainly. _But I really don't like him as my boyfriend though! _She protested silently. "I only like him because he's a good tennis partner and always knew what I was thinking! He understood me, and knew what to do to cheer me up, even if he did annoy me…" Rika realised when she said those words that nothing made sense. She didn't feel this way with Ez, Danielle, Harry or Paul. Maybe this is what people say was 'like' or 'love'.

Rika bit on her lip. "Uh… I know a vendor that sells Cookies and Cream mixed in with grape PONTA…" Her sentence trailed off as the audience erupted.

Ryoma was pushed onstage by Momoshiro. He stood next to Rika, both of them not knowing what to do.

"Kiss! Kiss!Kiss!" The audience chanted.

Rika glared at them..

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

Ryoma sighed

"Mada mada dane."

And he leaned forward slowly….

* * *

Rika woke up to the sounds of Danielle knocking heavily on her door. "What?" She growled.

"Look at the magazine!" Danielle stormed in, with Ez hot on her heels. Rika rubbed her eyes and read the headline.

RYOMA ECHIZEN GIVES THE WORLDS HOTTEST KISS EVER!

**Ryoma Echizen, the world champion of tennis was caught on film yesterday at one o'clock early morning planting the worlds hottest kiss ever! His kissing partner? The floor! Yes, and I quote from a source, "He literally _fell_ in love!" Apparently, on a dare from fellow friends, he agreed to kiss his former tennis partner, Rika Yuuki onstage, but the stunned girl was so embarrassed she took a step back-and Ryoma ended up lips first on the ground…**

Rika couldn't take it anymore, she laughed and laughed at the photo of Ryoma falling face down onto the ground.

"So," Ez rubbed her hands together. "How was the soda pop?"

Rika scowled, "It's not soda, its PONTA, and it went well… I guess, if you count me accidentally breathing in the fizzy stuff up my nose and having purple liquid dripping down your chin…"

Danielle patted her friends hand. "You've got much to learn, dear cousin and friend. Allow me to teach you a few tricks…"

* * *

Three weeks later.

Mr. Yuuki nearly choked on his tuna sandwich when he checked over one of the articles in his tennis magazine he was editing.

He immediately rang up his wife, telling her to "investigate".

The article is here as follows:

RYOMA ECHIZEN AND RIKA YUUKI-A COUPLE?

**After coming first in women's single, Yuuki announced that she and Echizen are finally a couple. "I don't know if you call someone you go to the movies with every Saturday night, a boyfriend, but if that is the definition, then yes. Ryoma and I are dating." **

**Similarly, when Echizen was asked the same question about their status, after his stunning score of 6 to two and taking down his second championship, he, and I quote, said, "Yuuki and I are just going to restaurants every Friday night, is that the definition of dating? Yes? Okay, then we're dating." **

**These answers prove to the world that this couple, though very dense, might just last longer than three months. Who knows?**

**Only time will tell.**


	19. AUTHOR'S NOTE: has changed account!

**WARNING: The story HAS finished. This is just a note from me!**

Due to reasons, I'm no longer going to use this account. Instead, I've created another one under the pen name Extended-Wings09.

And for those interested, I have written another Fanfic (still in progress though) for Harry Potter, called Magic Dead-point.

Please continue to read my fanfics, I really loved all the support you gave me!

And to be honest, I would have LONG gave up this story if not for all the reviews!!!

Thanks again and please check out that new fanfic of mine!


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